Degrees of Summer
by Livin-in-the-past
Summary: Peeta Mellark is a brand new pitcher for the White Sox trying to make it big. Katniss works at the stadium trying to support herself and Prim. Modern day AU
1. Chapter 1

**Degrees of Summer**

**Chapter One**

* * *

Peeta scuffed the dirt with his cleat and squinted up at the hot midday sun.

'It's so damn hot' he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he focused on Finnick, his catcher, who signaled for him to throw a fastball. Almost imperceptivity Peeta shook his head. Finnick frowned and motioned for a change up. Peeta licked his lips and nodded lining up the pitch.

He knew it was a strike the minute the ball left his hand. The batter swore and walked back to the bench as Finnick ran up and slapped Peeta on the back.

"You know, sometimes I think you're crazy as hell but then you manage to pull it off." Peeta laughed and adjusted his cap.

"Yeah well I studied up on this guy last night, my fastball isn't fast enough to get past him."

* * *

Katniss was sweating profusely and trying to remain cordial but at the same time couldn't help but be incredibly annoyed. It was a slow day at the stadium and she just wanted to go home and take a cold shower.

She looked up and down the concourse and frowned at the lack of customers, attendance had to be an all time low of 12,000. She stepped outside of her stand and walked up to the back of the last row of seats squinting and trying to see how many outs were left.

One, the White Sox had put in their brand new pitcher Peeta Mellark in the last inning and he had not given up a hit yet.

"Come on kid." Katniss spoke under her breath. She saw him line up the pitch and strike him out.

"Yes!" Her hands flew up in the air as she cheered. As Katniss scurried back to her stand to do final counts her mind drifted back to thoughts of her father and how excited he'd be that the Sox had finally picked up a good closer.

She really hoped this new kid had it in him to pull the team back together. They hadn't had a shot in years.

Later that night Katniss hefted about ten trash bags full of leftover cotton candy and started downstairs with it. When she reached the service level she set down her bags to retie her braid which had come undone making her sweaty hair stick to the back of her neck driving her crazy.

Hauling the bags back up on her shoulder she frowned thinking of the money bag tucked into the waistband of her pants. She was three dollars short today and couldn't figure out her mistake.

Katniss had recounted everything in her inventory and had not found anything. Still pondering the money issue she hadn't realized she was about to walk by the team clubhouse when all of a sudden the door in front of her flew open. Katniss felt her eyes widen as Finnick Odair strode out of the door.

She swung the bags of cotton candy around trying not to hit him and oh god she didn't even want to think about what would happen if management had found out she hit a player with bags full of cotton candy.

Loosing her footing Katniss fell onto the hard concrete landing right on her hip bone.

* * *

"Yeah! She just stared at me and then started crying. I didn't even know what to do man. I mean, she seemed so into it…" Peeta laughed as Finnick shoved the door to the clubhouse open.

He saw a shocked concession girl with her mouth open wide swing a bunch of cotton candy in her hands and fall onto the ground. Peeta felt a smile spread across his face when he saw the girl scowl at Finnick who was laughing hysterically.

Her cheeks were red and she pushed herself to her feet rubbing her hip bone. Peeta started grabbing cotton candy and shoving it back into the bag.

The girl snatched it from his hands. "You don't have to do that. I got it. Don't worry. Sorry to be in your way." Peeta felt his heart pound as she looked up at him. Her grey eyes flashing with anger and wounded pride.

He opened his mouth and blurted out, "I'm Peeta. Peeta Mellark."


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright. I'm in a writing kind of mood so I updated fast. I don't think I can do a chapter every day. You guys will be spoiled rotten!**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Katniss laughed. She cringed when she thought of how her short bark of a laugh must sound, condescending and unkind.

"I know who you are Mr. Mellark."

His smile if possible grew bigger "Well I'm glad at least someone has heard of me."

Katniss blew out a puff of air and readjusted her baseball cap. "I hope you have a wonderful day, Mellark." As she walked away embarrassment swept over her.

Katniss threw her baseball cap into the back of the car and scratched at her scalp reveling in the feeling of fresh air on the top of her head. Her mind kept wandering back to the interaction with the two players and she felt her cheeks burn. Switching on the ignition she reached for her phone and dialed Prim's number.

"Hi Katniss! How was work?" Prim sounded slightly breathless.

"Hey Little Duck, I just wanted to call and let you know I was on my way home but I was going to stop by Gale's house." Katniss chuckled at the intake of breath she heard from her little sister

"Can I come with? It wouldn't be any trouble to swing by here first would it?"

"I suppose not… I don't know why you're so excited to visit there anyways." Katniss teased.

"Oh well, I just haven't seen Rory… and Vick in a long time…"

"Ok, I will be there in twenty minutes. Don't make me wait up."

Prim laughed. "Alright. I'll be ready I promise!" With a smile Katniss hung up the phone. She adored her sister and tolerated her crush on Rory Hawthorne mostly because Rory knew what would happen if he hurt Prim.

* * *

"Peet… Peeta!" Peeta swung around to face the bar with his eyebrows raised.

"Got something on your mind man?" Rye asked. Peeta shook his head and leaned against the sticky bar.

"Just a busy week."

Rye grinned. "I know! You're a big shot now! A big shot pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Now you can buy your own beer."

Peeta glanced around nervously. "Don't talk so loud Rye. I don't need the attention right now."

"Bro, no one cares. I could shout it out right now." Peeta shoved Rye's shoulder.

"You're a jerk." Peeta laughed so Rye knew he was kidding and flagged down the bartender. "Can I just have a glass of water please?"

Rye narrowed his eyes at Peeta. "I invite you out and you don't even want to drink? What's the deal?"

Rolling his eyes Peeta took a sip of his water. "First off you coerced me to come out hoping some girls would notice who I was and come talk to us. Second, there's a day game tomorrow. If they put me in again I'm not messing things up."

"Alright, I was just messing with you. Have you had any star struck chicks lately?" Rye winked.

"Ha! No. Although the girl who nearly ran Odair over with a ton of cotton candy looked pretty shocked to see us."

"How do these things happen to you? Was she hot?"

Peeta saw a pair of stormy grey eyes in his mind and found he couldn't remember much else besides the fact that the girl had been wearing a braid.

"I'm not really sure. Everything happened so fast and she was wearing a concession stand outfit. There wasn't much to go off of." Peeta replied. Frowning he took a long drink of water. "All I can think about is her eyes."

Smirking Rye patted Peeta on the back. "Sounds like she really got to you little bro. Too bad you don't associate with riff raff anymore."

Peeta narrowed his eyes at Rye. "She wasn't riff raff."

"Whoa, I was kidding man. Why are you so bothered by this girl?"

"I don't know, Rye. I just know I want to see her again."

* * *

Katniss pulled up in front of Gale's apartment and tugged on the end of her braid. Prim giggled.

"Are you going to try and parallel park again?"

Katniss frowned. "I'm not going to try I'm going to do."

Flicking on her turn signal, Katniss glanced in her rear view mirror and pulled up next to the car in front of the empty space. She threw the car into reverse and bit her lip as she slowly started to back up. About halfway into the spot she hit the curb.

Prim giggled again.

"Hush Prim. I'm focusing." Katniss glanced over and saw that Prim had both hands over her mouth. "You think this is funny little duck?"

She reached over and started to tickle Prim's sides jumping when there was a sharp rap on her window. Looking over she saw Gale grinning at her.

"Having some trouble parking Catnip?" Katniss folded her arms across her chest.

"No, I'm not." She scowled at Gale who laughed and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt.

"Come on Katniss. I've got this." Huffing she slid out of the car and went to stand on the curb. Within 30 seconds Gale had easily maneuvered her car into the spot. Prim jumped out and hugged Katniss.

"It's ok Katniss. We all can't be good at everything." With a wink Prim linked her arm through Katniss's. Gale handed her the keys and unlocked the first set of doors.

"How was work Catnip? Meet anyone famous?" Katniss laughed without emotion.

"You could say that." Raising an eyebrow Gale studied her.

"Really?"

"Well I ran into Finnick Odair and Peeta Mellark."

"How did that go?" Katniss shook her head.

"Better than expected. Especially considering I almost trampled them with cotton candy." Katniss thought back to the way Peeta had helped her pick up the bags and seemed almost as uncomfortable as her with the whole situation. "Mellark was really nice about the whole thing."

Laughing Gale threw himself onto his couch patting the spot next to him. "I can't believe you almost injured the Sox new hot shot." Katniss sank into the couch and sighed.

"I know. I'm so embarrassed." Gale grunted and flicked on the television glancing over at Rory and Prim who were sitting at the counter chatting. He leaned over and whispered in Katniss's ear.

"Who do you think will admit it first?" Katniss looked over and saw Prim's blush.

"It'll have to be Rory. Prim is to proud to admit what she actually wants." Gale studied Katniss with an intense look on his face.

"Sounds like someone I know."


End file.
